You know what's fucked up? I don't really have any empathy left for our soldiers in Iraq anymore. All I can think about is how fucked up our economy is and how much this war is costing us taxpayers. How much of my money is that Colonel burning up in his helicopter ride?

That's just the nature of the military. 80% of the officer corp. don't give a damn about enlisted(especially O5+). Just little cogs in the big wheel.

That guy Vice President Cheney shot in the face?

This Sergeant is smart to stay in the Army. He will get the pitiful substandard health care that active soldiers get, rather than the scandalous third-world-style health care our veterans get.

Then don't participate!

The armed forces do not have a monopoly on "service" to your country, and in fact one could make the argument that supporting the whole military-industrial complex (thank you, Mr. President) is doing the exact opposite, helping to drive the general economy further into the ground while enriching a small percentage of the population.

There are many ways a patriotic young man or woman can contribute to society. Work in a non-profit, volunteer at a clinic, participate in local politics, become a cop or a firefighter or an E.R. nurse, pick up the trash down the street....and on and on. And the bonus? None of these require you to shoot people or get shot at.

Okay. Fire away...

... any troop who was injured, anywhere in the theater of operations, got immediate medevac back to a field hospital and was on the way to a major medical center in Europe or the US in no more than 48 hours. I honestly don't have the words to express my disgust at how hollow the "support the troops" rhetoric has become in the current war.

"one could make the argument that supporting the whole military-industrial complex (thank you, Mr. President) is doing the exact opposite."

These men are no longer "our troops," when they are being used to further the foreign policy goals of multi-national corporations. Unfortunately, they have become "their troops."

Any wounded person, civilian or military, should get first option for travel.

I just saw an Air Force Ad on Salon. What's that all about?

How "independent" of Salon... Sponsored by Ad money from the military!

No empathy for a soldier wounded in combat--*shot in the face*--because you're facing the greater woes of having to pay high gas prices? Cry me a fucking river, guy. And if you think UH-60-hopping in full armor in Iraq is better than coach, you are pig-ignorant as well as whiny.

This kind of nonsense, along with the blather about enlisted soldiers doing harm to their country through their service--is what makes people think that liberals are obnoxious troop-hating assholes.

What is up with this guy who was shot in the face? Is this a Fellini movie or real life? This is what happens to you when you sign up for the military? You're a shithead cuz you were stupid enough to volunteer for the military, and so the Bush administration treats you like the shithead they think you are?

This 'support the troops' stuff is such a pile of hogshit. It's clear the Bush administration hates 'the troops', they think they're dupes and they think that they deserve to suck eggs and spend the rest of their lives deformed because of their naive faith in the corrupt flag-pin-wearing Bush administration.

TG this is an election year.

Every US service person helping to occupy Iraq is part of an illegal, unconstitutional war which is destroying our country economically, politically and strategically. The soldiers over there are the tools of the oil companies and defense contractors. Period. They're doing nothing for me. I didn't drive a car for seven years, living in LA, and am only driving now because I moved to a relatively isolated place, which requires one. I was more patriotic than any of these war criminal killing for oil by my energy conservation actions. The only troops I respect are those such as Lt. Watada, who refused to follow illegal orders and fight in Iraq.

And for you supposed supporters of the troops over there, where's your indignation about the depleted uranium all our troops there are exposed to, which is affecting them and their families when they come back home? And for a lot of you supporters of the troops, why did you re-elect a criminally negligent president to continue running is bloody war? If you gave a damn about the troops you would have boot his war-profiteering ass out of office in 2004. If you voted for Bush in 2004, you don't really give a rat's ass about the troops -- that or you're stupid as hell. Either way, I don't give a damn what you supposed supporters of the troops think.

Start supporting the Constitution first, and the soldiers that support it. All other soldiers are just good Nazis.

Sorry but for a volunteer in an all volunteer army, participating in the definative evil act of the early 21st century.... the sympathy meter reads zero.

As for embedded war groupie Ms Bradkhen, retirement can't come soon enough.

The sooner everyone leaves Iraq the better.

Once upon a time in a fair kingdom there was a blight upon the land. The sick and injured languished for lack of insurance to pay for health care, education faltered because it was too expensive, and oldie folks quaked in their slippers for fear of outliving their savings.

This fair kingdom was the richest country in the world.

The kingdom was ruled by an aged dynasty that lived in a remote corner of the country called the land of the longhorn. The king and his courtiers were housed in a castle surrounded by a moat. Instead of water, which most people were happy with, their moat was filled with oil.

The oil, a liquid gold, had magical properties. The king and his courtiers used it daily, which protected them from the blight that had stricken the land. It also had the particular property of creating an appetite for itself, like potato chips and beer. The more anyone partook, the more he (or she) wanted.

But the moat began to dry up, greatly worrying the king and his courtiers. Some bit their nails, others jumped up and down, and still others whined and sputtered and pounded their fists on the table. But the oil levels kept dropping.

So the king and his courtiers decided to take another country's oil. The richest country in the world withdrew the money in the treasury and started a war. To finance their spending, they served the people less and taxed them more.

The war centered in the ancient city of Baghdad, cradle of treasures and power and spells. A young soldier from the fair kingdom went to fight there because he couldn't afford college tuition. Patrolling the Baghdad streets one day, he spotted a brass lamp in amongst the rubble of a bombed out building. He picked it up, rubbed it, and out came a genie in a cloud of smoke.

The genie opened his eyes and looked around, then rubbed his eyes and looked again.

"Man oh man," he exclaimed, "sleep for a couple of centuries and there goes the neighborhood."

The soldier had seen many unbelievable sights since he'd been in Baghdad but this was the most promising.

The genie swirled onto the broken cornice of a building and said, "Okay, you got three wishes coming. What'll it be?"

The soldier thought for a moment and said, "I wish my country would take all the money this war costs and spend it on health care, education and pensions for everyone in the land."

The genie pursed his lips and said, "That sounds like four wishes to me, but I'll throw in a bonus since you didn't ask for any girls. You're a smart kid, you oughta go to college."

The genie waved his smoky arms and warbled some incantations, turning round and round until he spun into a twister and vanished.

Back in the soldier’s country, the blight cleared up. It was as if a huge cloud lifted from the entire nation. Heavy burdens rose from the shoulders of everyone in the kingdom (except for those in the land of the longhorn). All the money spent on the war was returned to the people, bringing an end to the fighting. The soldier went home to college, the sick and injured got medical attention, and the oldie folks kicked off their slippers and relaxed into the evening of their hardworking lives.

And the fair kingdom became truly the most fortunate country in the world.